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much by his sound and forcible reasoning in favour of the Protestant Dissenters. "There nothing," said his lordship, more unreasonable, more inconsistent, with the rights of human nature, more contrary to the spirit and precepts of the Christian religion, nore iniquitous and unjust, more impolitic, than persecution. My lords, it is against natural religion, revealed religion, and sound policy." In speaking of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, as introductory to persecutions in France, his lordship said there was no necessity for that measure.

"The Jesuits needed only to have advised a similar plan, similar to what is contended for in the present case; make a law to render them incapable of office; make another to punish them for not serving it. If they accept, punish them; if they refuse, punish them; if they say yes, punish them; if they say no, punish them. My lords, this is a most exquisite dilemma, from which there is no escaping; it is a trap a man cannot get out of; it is as bad a prosecution as that of Procustes-if they are too short, stretch them; if they are too long, lop them."

The liberality of his lordship in matters of religion, and the part he took (though by no means conspicuous) in the bill for the relief of the Roman Catholics, brought on him the vengeance of the mob in the disgraceful riots of 1780. His house in Bloomsbury Square, with all its furniture, his books, his manuscripts, &c. was entirely consumed by fire. He bore this calamity with great equanimity; and once in the House of Lords made the following pathetic allusion to it, when giving his opinion on a legal question : " I speak not this from books, for books, I have none."

"

JESUIT OF MARANHAM.

of right and wrong he taught Truths as refined as ever Athens heard; And (strange to tell) he practis'd what he preach'd."

ARMSTRONG.

Mr. Southey, in his History of Brazil, gives an account of a celebrated sermon preached against slavery at St. Luis, 1653, by Antonio Vieyra, the Jesuit, who, as a preacher, had been the delight and pride of the court of Lisbon. He took for his text the words of the Tempter: "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." He began by dwelling upon the worth of the human soul, winning the attention of his hearers by his own peculiar manner. "Yet," said he, "we value our souls so cheaply, that you know at what rate we sell them. We wonder that Judas should have sold his master and his soul for thirty pieces of silver; but how many are there who offer their own to the devil for less than fifteen? Christians, I am not now telling you that you ought not to sell your souls, for I know you must sell them. I only entreat that you would sell them by weight; weigh first what a soul is, weigh next what it is worth, and what it cost; and then sell it, and welcome! But in what scales is it to be weighed? not in the scales of human judgment; no, for they are false. The children of men are deceitful upon the weights. But in what balance, then? You think I shall say in the balance of St. Michael the archangel, where souls are weighed. I do not require so much. Weigh

them in the devil's own balance, and I shall be satisfied! Take the devil's balance in your hand; put the whole world in one scale, and a soul in the other, and you will find that your soul weighs more than the whole world; all this will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.' At how different a price, now," Vieyra proceeded," does the devil purchase souls, from that which he formerly offered for them? I mean in this country. The devil has not a fair in the world where they go cheaper! In the gospel he offers all the kingdoms of the earth for a single soul; he does not require so large a purse to purchace all that are in Maranham. It is not necessary to offer worlds; it is not necessary to offer kingdoms; it is not necessary to offer cities, nor towns, nor villages; it is enough for the devil to point at a plantation, and a couple of Tapuyas, and down goes the man upon his knees to worship him. Oh, what a market! A negro for a soul, and the soul the blacker of the two! This negro shall be your slave for the few days that you may have to live, and your soul shall be my slave through all eternity, as long as God is God; this is the bargain which the devil makes with you." After urging the abolition of slavery, he continued: "But you will say to me, this people, this republic, this state, cannot be supported without Indians. Who is to bring us a pitcher of water, or a bundle of wood? Who is to plant our mandioc? Must our wives do it? Must our children do it? In the first place, these are not the straits in which I would place you; but if necessity and conscience require it, then I reply, yes! and I repeat it, yes! you, and your wives, and your children, ought to do it! We ought

to support ourselves with our own hands; for better is it to be supported by the sweat of one's own brow then by another's blood. O, ye riches of Maranham ! What, if these mantles and cloaks were to be wrung? They would drop blood."

The benevolent preacher then stated the plan of abolition; and after pointing out the temporal and spiritual benefits of such an arrangement, thus concluded: "Let us give this victory to Christ; let us give this glory to God; let us give this triumph to Heaven; let us give this vexation to Hell; let us give this remedy to the country in which we live; let us give this honour to the Portuguese nation; let us give this example to Christendom; let us give this fame to the world! Let the world know, let the heretics and the heathens know, that God was not deceived when he chose the Portuguese for conquerors and speakers of his holy name! Let the world know, that there is still truth, that there is still the fear of God; that there is a soul; that there is still a conscience; and that interest is not the absolute and universal lord of all; Let the world know, that there are still those, who, for the love of God, and of their own salvations, will trample interest under foot! Lord Jesus, this is the mind, and this the resolution, of these your faithful Catholics, from this day forth! There is no one here who has any other interest but that of serving you; there is no one here who desires any other advantage but that of loving you; there is no one here who has any other ambition but that of being eternally obedient and prostrate at your feet. Their property is at your feet; there interest is at your feet ; their slaves are at your feet; their children are at your

feet; their blood is at your feet; their life is at your feet; that you may do with it, and with all, whatever is most comfortable to your holy law. Is it not thus, Christians? It is thus; I say thus, add promise thus to God in the name of all. Victory, then, on the part of Christ! victory, victory, over the strongest temptation of the devil!"

The whole of this extraordinary discourse was so lively, so striking, and addressed at once to their understandings and their passions, their interest and their vanity, that it produced all the immediate effort which Vieyra desired. Balthazar de Souza, the Capitam Mor, convened a meeting in the church-yard that same afternoon, and then called upon the preacher to propose formally the plan which he had recommended from the pulpit. It was universally approved; and in order to carry it into execution, two advocates were appointed, one for the slave holders, the other for the Indians. A deed, expressing the consent of the people to this arrangement, was immediately drawn up in legal form, and signed by the Capitam Mor, as well as by all the chief inhabitants of the place.

LORD THURLOW.

"He sits among men like a descended god."

CYMBELINE.

Edward Thurlow, the son of a manufacturer of the City of Norwich, like his great predecessors, Somers and Hardwicke, bursting from obscurity by the strength of his own genius, like them too overcame the obstacles of birth and fortune, and suddenly rose to the first honours of his profession. The powers